Pablo Escobar was the richest criminal in history. At the height of his powers, the Colombian drug lord’s cartel is thought to have controlled 80 per cent of the global cocaine market, earning US$60 million (Dh220.4m) a day by the late 1980s.
In 1992 he was jailed, a year later he escaped and was killed in a gunfight at the aged of 44, having amassed a personal fortune of $30billion.
Escobar's story is prime material for Hollywood, but, amazingly, it has never before been told on the big screen. In 2007 two projects were announced – Joe Carnahan's Killing Pablo and Oliver Stone's Escobar – but they have yet to see the light of day.
Beating both of the big names to the screen, is the first-time director Andrea Di Stefano, an actor, whose Escobar: Paradise Lost began a well-received festival run at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, and finishes with a pair of screenings at Diff ahead of a UAE release on Thursday, December 18.
Making headlines in the title role is Benicio del Toro. No stranger to playing historical figures – he starred as Che Guevara in Che, the two-part 2008 biopic of the Argentine revolutionary – the Puerto Rican actor gives a powerhouse performance as the unhinged criminal mind behind hundreds of deaths. Among those reputedly murdered on Escobar's orders, the death toll among police officers alone is thought to be more than 600.
He bought off the authorities with his infamous “plata o plomo” offer – which translates as “silver or lead”, the choice being taking a bribe or facing death.
“Pablo Escobar was immensely ferocious and violent,” says Di Stefano after Saturday’s Diff gala screening. “He was able to do things that probably no other criminal in history has done.“
Rather than telling Escobar's rags-to-riches story (Escobar was one of nine children and his father was a farmer), Di Stefano, who also wrote the screenplay, sidelines the criminal's biography in favour of Nick, a semi-fictional Canadian surfer who is drawn into the drug dealer's world. Played by the Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson, Nick falls in love with Escobar's niece Maria, which introduces him to life on Escobar's Graceland-esque ranch, Hacienda Nápoles.
The idea came from “three sentences” the Italian director heard from a police officer about a real-life “young Italian fellow who went to Colombia to meet his brother, somehow became close to the Escobar family, and then got in trouble.”
The movie begins in June 1991, a day before Escobar turned himself over to the authorities, with Nick being asked to perform a favour for the ganglord. The first act then rewinds to show the young couple’s meeting and courtship, while the final act is a tense thriller charting the gangster’s last day before jail.
Those expecting a modern-day Scarface will be surprised. The audience never sees drugs on-screen and the only visually violent acts take place in the final third of the movie.
“I tried to sell a movie without ever showing cocaine, because it wasn’t about cocaine,” says Di Stefano. “It was about his criminal mind.
“In his field, the criminal world, he was some kind of genius. There was something about his evilness – he was good at it. He was a wasted talent.”
It is the kind of movie you might think some people might not want to see made. But the 44-year-old director says there was no interference from the Colombian authorities or the ganglord’s relatives. His decision to shoot entirely in Panama was logistical.
“I didn’t try to ask for the approval of the Escobar family,” says Di Stefano.
After finishing the script five years ago – before acting in the blockbuster films Life of Pi and Nine – Di Stefano couldn't move the project forward without the right cast. He has no hesitation in admitting that Del Toro was the first choice for the lead role. Never having met him, getting the A-lister on board took place through "the normal" channels – a script was sentand then a meeting was set up.
“We talked a lot,” says the director. “He wanted to be reassured about certain things – I had nothing to convince him beside my enthusiasm and my research.”
And there was a lot of research – not to mention passion. Throughout our interview, Di Stefano is brimming with facts and anecdotes about his subject – such as how Escobar once tricked a close friend into acting as a suicide bomber, bringing down a plane and murdering 120 passengers to target a single politician who, as it turned out, was not even on board.
“As a writer, I’m fascinated by Escobar – as an artist and narrator, there’s a psychology that gives me a lot of possibility to play around,” says Di Stefano.
“But that’s completely different to saying I admire him as a human being. When you’re surrounded by kind people and you are evil, it’s very easy to have such achievements.”
• Escobar: Paradise Lost screens at Diff on Wednesday, December 17, at 3pm at Mall of the Emirates 11, and will go on general release on Thursday, December 18
rgarratt@thenational.ae
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The Bio
Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite Author: CJ Sansom
Favourite holiday destination: Bali
Favourite food: A Sunday roast
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Have you been targeted?
Tuan Phan of SimplyFI.org lists five signs you have been mis-sold to:
1. Your pension fund has been placed inside an offshore insurance wrapper with a hefty upfront commission.
2. The money has been transferred into a structured note. These products have high upfront, recurring commission and should never be in a pension account.
3. You have also been sold investment funds with an upfront initial charge of around 5 per cent. ETFs, for example, have no upfront charges.
4. The adviser charges a 1 per cent charge for managing your assets. They are being paid for doing nothing. They have already claimed massive amounts in hidden upfront commission.
5. Total annual management cost for your pension account is 2 per cent or more, including platform, underlying fund and advice charges.
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Brief scores:
Toss: Kerala Knights, opted to fielf
Pakhtoons 109-5 (10 ov)
Fletcher 32; Lamichhane 3-17
Kerala Knights 110-2 (7.5 ov)
Morgan 46 not out, Stirling 40
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
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%3Cul%3E%0A%3Cli%3ENever%20click%20on%20links%20provided%20via%20app%20or%20SMS%2C%20even%20if%20they%20seem%20to%20come%20from%20authorised%20senders%20at%20first%20glance%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EAlways%20double-check%20the%20authenticity%20of%20websites%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EEnable%20Two-Factor%20Authentication%20(2FA)%20for%20all%20your%20working%20and%20personal%20services%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EOnly%20use%20official%20links%20published%20by%20the%20respective%20entity%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EDouble-check%20the%20web%20addresses%20to%20reduce%20exposure%20to%20fake%20sites%20created%20with%20domain%20names%20containing%20spelling%20errors%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3C%2Ful%3E%0A
Dark Souls: Remastered
Developer: From Software (remaster by QLOC)
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Price: Dh199
The biog
Born: Kuwait in 1986
Family: She is the youngest of seven siblings
Time in the UAE: 10 years
Hobbies: audiobooks and fitness: she works out every day, enjoying kickboxing and basketball
RESULTS
Men
1 Marius Kipserem (KEN) 2:04:04
2 Abraham Kiptum (KEN) 2:04:16
3 Dejene Debela Gonfra (ETH) 2:07:06
4 Thomas Rono (KEN) 2:07:12
5 Stanley Biwott (KEN) 2:09:18
Women
1 Ababel Yeshaneh (ETH) 2:20:16
2 Eunice Chumba (BRN) 2:20:54
3 Gelete Burka (ETH) 2:24:07
4 Chaltu Tafa (ETH) 2:25:09
5 Caroline Kilel (KEN) 2:29:14
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Score
New Zealand 266 for 9 in 50 overs
Pakistan 219 all out in 47.2 overs
New Zealand win by 47 runs
New Zealand lead three-match ODI series 1-0
Next match: Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi, Friday
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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Political flags or banners
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Bikes, skateboards or scooters
Going grey? A stylist's advice
If you’re going to go grey, a great style, well-cared for hair (in a sleek, classy style, like a bob), and a young spirit and attitude go a long way, says Maria Dowling, founder of the Maria Dowling Salon in Dubai.
It’s easier to go grey from a lighter colour, so you may want to do that first. And this is the time to try a shorter style, she advises. Then a stylist can introduce highlights, start lightening up the roots, and let it fade out. Once it’s entirely grey, a purple shampoo will prevent yellowing.
“Get professional help – there’s no other way to go around it,” she says. “And don’t just let it grow out because that looks really bad. Put effort into it: properly condition, straighten, get regular trims, make sure it’s glossy.”
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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